Sweet Venom Trilogy

Grace just moved to San Francisco and is excited to start over at a new school. The change is full of fresh possibilities, but it’s also a tiny bit scary. It gets scarier when a minotaur walks in the door. And even more shocking when a girl who looks just like her shows up to fight the monster.
Gretchen is tired of monsters pulling her out into the wee hours, especially on a school night, but what can she do? Sending the minotaur back to his bleak home is just another notch on her combat belt. She never expected to run into this girl who could be her double, though.
Greer has her life pretty well put together, thank you very much. But that all tilts sideways when two girls who look eerily like her appear on her doorstep and claim they’re triplets, supernatural descendants of some hideous creature from Greek myth, destined to spend their lives hunting monsters.
These three teenage descendants of Medusa, the once-beautiful gorgon maligned by myth, must reunite and embrace their fates in this unique paranormal world where monsters lurk in plain sight.

This was an excellent start to the trilogy. I loved the characters – yes, even Greer (and what an interesting name that is) – and the writing style was truly incredible. To juggle three distinct but similar narrators is a feat to be celebrated, and Childs does an excellent job of it. Even though there were moments, mostly in the beginning, where the writing wasn’t as fluid and so my ability to suspend my disbelief faltered a little, Childs recovers beautifully to spin thw awesome tale of Medusa’s descendants.

The plot and the secondary characters are great, too, and I can’t wait for the author to delve more into those people and their secondary plotlines. On to the second book!

Title: Sweet Shadows
Release Date: September 4, 2012

Three teenage descendants of Medusa must figure out where their fate will take them. The warring factions among the gods of Olympus are coming for them, the creatures of the abyss are pushing into San Francisco, and the boys in their lives are hiding dangerous secrets.Gretchen has fought the monsters the longest, but teaching the girls the ropes is hard. Can she rely on Grace and Greer, or even trust herself to keep them safe? Greer has pressing social commitments and little time to train her newfound powers. But her second sight won’t leave her alone. Grace is worried about her brother, Thane, who has disappeared. His secrets might have to do with the heritage the triplets share.

The trilogy just keeps getting better and better! I love how we get more of the family aspect in this book rather than just the three girls on their own; and not only their familial bond, either, but also that of their parents and friends, at least when it comes to Grace and Greer. Thank and his situationis also very intriguing, even more so than in the first book, and since this book was extremely plot-focused, what with the abyss, Sthennos, and other occurrences, the end that Childs gave was less than satisfying! All I now want to do it grab the third (and last) book and find out what happens!

Title: Sweet Legacy
Release Date: September 3, 2013

The girls cannot hesitate as they seek the location of the lost door between the realms, even as monsters and the gods of Olympus descend on San Francisco in battle-ready droves.Greer must use her second sight to step up and prevent anything from stopping her sisters’ mission, even though a god is playing with her mind. Grace wants to trust her adopted brother, Thane; but will his secret put the girls in even more danger? And Gretchen has trained her sisters to stop the monsters, but her role as a huntress comes with more responsibility than she ever imagined. What will the girls’ immortal legacy be? Three teenage descendants of Medusa must unite to restore balance to the world.

Fantastic. This conclusion to the series was action-packed and most definitely sweet. I loved the characters, I loved the plot, and Childs’ writing is just awesome. Everything was just so appropriate and right – it left me wanting more, but I was still satisfied with what I got from the books. It was creative and just un-put-down-able. Hooked until the very last page, despite, again, some choppiness, I am so very glad I was finally able to get these books from the library. I loved the romance, and even though I would have liked more of a focus on the family aspects (especially where Thane is concerned), Childs did eventually get to that, too, so it wasn’t as frustrating as I thought it was going to be. Lastly, the covers fit together perfectly (both versions of them, too!) – three books, three sisters, three poses for the cover models. They were great for the series’ plot.

I highly recommend this series – it is a fun, suspenseful, romantic, mythological, and positively amazing trilogy; definitely pick up a copy if you ever get the chance!

~Yours Truly

*Note: Due to mild language and violence, I do not recommend this book to anyone under the age of 13.